


Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve, but Try Not to Break It

by YorkandDelta



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Grand Theft Auto Setting, Fake AH Crew, M/M, Pining, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 06:11:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10633914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YorkandDelta/pseuds/YorkandDelta
Summary: In a world where loving someone will cause a band of colour to appear on your arm, what do you do if the person you love's arm remains bare? What if it only shows the love for someone else? You do eveything in your power to hide your mark right?At least that is what Jeremy decides to do when a gold mark appears on his arm not long after joining the illustirous Fake AH Crew.





	1. Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve

People wear their hearts on their sleeves. the moment that little crush deepens to something more, a faint band of colour will appear on your arm, a colour specific to that person. The band will grow more vibrant as your love grows, but it will fade if your love for that person fades. The band can flare back to life if you fall back in love with the same person, but if not that patch of skin will return to its original colour. The next time you fall in love the band will be slightly higher on your arm, people say that it is because the love you feel can never truly be replaced. A few people will have more than one band, usually one is more faded than the other. That often happens when a lover dies and the person can’t quite forget them, but it can happen after unresolved break ups as well. The first band you get starts on the wrist of your dominant hand, just under where your palm ends and are about an inch wide. Some people have bands as far up as their biceps, but mainly people have them on their forearms or in the elbow area. There are rumors that people who fall in love too easily and too much will even get them on their other arm.

Jeremy’s next band is due to show up just above his wrist bone, in the second band spot. His first was for a high school sweetheart but that ended when he moved to Los Santos. He found that being a criminal and dating did not really go hand in hand, it wasn’t like you were meeting the kind of person you would bring home to meet your parents. Jeremy was glad his arms were bare, showing the world that you were in love meant showing that you had a weakness. 

Jeremy had just started working full time for the B-team of the Fake AH Crew, one of the most infamous crews in the city. There were other crews, some of them even more, shall we say successful, but the Fakes had style. They planned outrageous heists and drove flashy cars and were generally the talk of the town. They made a lot of money, but they spent enough of it to prove that they were in the game for the fun, and winning was only a pleasant bonus. Jeremy loved the crew, and was proud that they seemed to be appreciating his work. He was holding on the the memory of Geoff’s drunken promise that if he “kept up the good work he’d make a great main crew member” after Jeremy’s first heist with the crew. Slowly Jeremy began to spend more time with the main five, and that is when he first started cursing the love bands. 

It was after a bar night where Gavin and Geoff were regaling Jeremy with crew stories from before he joined the crew. Geoff particularly enjoys the one about how they broke into a bank vault over a holiday weekend and forced the crew to play Monopoly with the money by locking them in the vault until someone won, or until the bank opened on Tuesday morning and they had to sneak away. Their takes from the heist was determined by how much money they had at the end of the game, so there was incentive not to just quit. Now the mere mention of the game was enough to start a shouting match. Jeremy had laughed at Gavin’s animation at the story, he had been in on the planning and had helped Geoff reseal the doors of the vault from the inside and loved telling the story as much as Michael and Ryan hated hearing it. Jeremy was still smiling about the thought of the famous Vagabond trying to cheat at Monopoly in a bank vault as he got back to his apartment. He started brushing his teeth when he noticed something on his wrist. It was slightly shiny, as if he were sweating and it wouldn’t go away after scrubbing it. Too drunk to care at that moment, Jeremy went to bed.

Over the next week Jeremy couldn’t get the strange sheen to go away, but it was only after another bar night with the crew where he spent his whole time listening to Gavin telling stories about his adventures with Dan back in England and the two of them laughing that he realized what had happened. The shiny patch of skin was a very, very faint gold band. 

Jeremy panicked, he had no intention about falling for a coworker, especially not the Golden Boy hacker of the Fake AH Crew. He needed to do something to hide his band. It was low enough on his arm that if his sleeve pushed up even slightly it was visible. Thankfully Jeremy had an idea while he was playing back up as the crew robbed a jewellry store. As he was emptying out a display case something caught his eye. It was a huge, gaudy gold watch. Jeremy realized that if he hid gold with gold the shiny band would be much less visible. 

So he held up the watch and asked “Hey Geoff, can I trade in part of my cut for keeping this guy?” The crew looked over and Gavin was the one to answer “Ooo what good taste you have there Lil J” and so Jeremy slid it onto his wrist where it hid his band nicely.

Jeremy didn’t have to see Gavin’s wrist to know that his purple wouldn’t be there. Jeremy was merely hired muscle, a new guy. Replaceable. Even after he made the main crew he felt as though he were only there temporarily, until they could find someone better. So he worked hard. He tried to be helpful to everyone and make up with enthusiasm what he lacked in skill. He practiced his fighting skills everyday to get better. With fists or knives or guns. He knew he had been gaining a little weight, getting a little soft so he spent a lot of time at the gym and would go on diets he hoped the others didn’t notice. The last part was tricky since Michael liked to bring in treats to work, mostly because the Lad enjoyed seeing Vagabond eating donuts. But Jeremy hated himself every time he would cave and eat them himself. 

No, Jeremy didn’t expect to see his purple band on Gavin, but that didn’t stop him from being disappointed when Gavin showed up for work in a t-shirt. It wasn’t just that there was no purple mark, but there, half way up his forearm, was a pale blue band. Gavin was in love with someone else. 

Jeremy tried to pull away from Gavin, spending less time with the man would help him get over his more-than-crush. But Gavin didn’t seem to want that. If anything Gavin was trying to spend more time with Jeremy than ever, asking his ridiculous hypothetical questions and getting Jeremy to do all kinds of dares and bets. Jeremy didn’t want to actively avoid Gavin, he just wanted space to get over him. So he stopped humouring Gavin and refused to let the British man talk him into any insane stunts. Jeremy didn’t like saying no to Gavin and seeing his disappointment, and Gavin noticed the change.

“Lil J! Why do you hate me now?” Gavin whined as they were playing video games to pass the time in the safehouse they were using to lay low from the cops. They normally lived in their own houses or apartments around the city, but they all had to stay hidden in this one until the cops gave up looking for them. 

“I don’t hate you, Gavin. Where did that come from?”

“You’ve been acting funny lately and you never spend time with me anymore!”

“That is because you are literally the most annoying person in the world Gav!” Michael cut in.

“Micoo! Am not, I’m lovely! Jeremy you don’t think I’m annoying right?”

“Well…..”

“Awww Jeremy! What can I do to make you stop hating me? I know, you something I can do and then you can’t hate me for a whole year!”

That shouldn’t be hard since I don’t hate you at all, Jeremy thought. “How about you stop daring me to eat stupid things while I’m drunk and we have ourselves a deal.”

So things were fine. He stopped trying to avoid spending time with Gavin but he never did anything that would show Gavin how he really felt. Jeremy didn’t want to lose his friend, and possibly even his job, by making things awkward.

 

 

***

 

A few weeks later and the Fakes were expecting a visitor. Dan the Man was coming to town. Jeremy had heard the stories, and he was excited to meet the other Brit in real life. Plus the jobs that he and Gavin were going to be working on sounded epic, Jeremy swore he saw Gavin with an excessive amount of mouse traps and a flamethrower at one point and he pitied the poor Lost gang members who were going to be on the receiving end of the attack the crew was planning. 

Of course the crew went out to the bar to celebrate Dan’s arrival. Jeremy got to the bar after everyone else had arrived. What he saw made him almost want to leave again. Gavin was wrapped around Dan, practically sitting on the newcomer’s lap. And worse he was wearing a button down the exact same colour as Gavin’s mark, only more vibrant. Jeremy put two and two together in an instant and recalled Gavin’s fond tone of voice whenever he talked about his former English partner. Gav was in love with Dan, after all these years and the distance between them. Jeremy was debating walking out, but then he would have to drink alone at his apartment to get over the shock. Gavin spotted him before he could make up his mind and promptly called out.

“Lil J! Come here and meet Dan!” So Jeremy did. And he ordered a strong drink to help him loosen up. 

The thing was, Dan was nice. He was funny and he and Gavin got along like a house on fire. Jeremy wanted to be jealous but he knew he couldn’t compete. He had a few drinks and was thinking of an excuse to leave early when Dan noticed something on Gavin’s arm after the latter had rolled up his sleeves.

“B, your mark is so faded! It is almost gone!” Jeremy stiffened, where the two going to fight over Gavin losing interest? Had Gavin lost interest? It didn’t look like it, he had been sitting with his arm around Dan the whole night.

“B don’t be like that! You should be happy for me! You know this won’t change anything!” Gavin answered.

“I know, I’m just teasing.” Dan laughed. 

Jeremy stood and muttered something about getting a drink and went to the bar beside Lindsay. He decided he needed something cleared up. “Hey Linds...:” 

“Yeah J?”

“What is the story between Gav and Dan? Are they together or?” 

Lindsay laughed. “Oh no, poor Gavin has been low-key in love with Dan forever. Dan has always been nice about it, but he is way too straight for anything to work out between them.They are still really tight, I don’t think they ever let it get between them. It is kind of a shame he is getting over Dan; his blue is such a nice colour, nowhere near what Gavin’s looks like now.”

“Ah.” Is all Jeremy could say. His drink arrived and he changed the subject. He pondered what Lindsay had said. 1) Gavin was interested in guys, that was nice to know and 2) His feelings for Dan, while still present, were significantly less than before. But that didn’t mean he had, or ever would have feelings for Jeremy, so he tried to push down the hope rising in his chest. He only stayed for a bit longer after that. 

 

***

 

The raid on the Lost was going great. They had blown up one of their biggest warehouses and were currently running away from the cops. There had to be a bit of a change of plans because of the confusion at the scene, so Gavin was on the back of Jeremy’s motorcycle for the get away. Jeremy was reveling in Gavin’s arms tight around him, his whoops of victory loud in his ear. They had just lost the trail of cops and Lost and were about to start slowing down to head to the safe house when the tire of their motorcycle popped. It seemed that the bullets and the high speed finally wore away and the thing exploded in protest. Gavin and Jeremy were launched off the bike. Jeremy felt his helmet crack against the pavement, protecting his skull from shattering but not his brain from rattling around. He lay for a few minutes staring at the crudely painted dick on the wall of the alleyway he was in when he realized a voice was talking to him.

“Lil J, come on buddy, look over here. Atta boy. Can you hear me?”

Jeremy closed his eyes, the voice was making his head hurt. He felt a hand on his arm, it was causing intense pain close to his wrist. The hands started to loosen his watch. He jerked it back.

“No, no. No looking. It’s a secret.”

“Your wrist is sprained, maybe broken. We need to get your watch off to stop it from hurting when it swells.” This was a different voice. It was somehow unexpected but not unfamiliar. 

“Okay. But you can’t tell him.”

“What can’t I tell who?”

“Gavin. You can’t tell Gavin I love him.”

 

Jack looked up to where Gavin was crouched, holding bandages against Jeremy’s face where the scrapes from his fall were still bleeding. Gavin’s eyes were big and his mouth hung open in shock, staring at the injured man in disbelief. 

“It’s okay, Jeremy. I won’t tell him. We are just going to get this arm splinted up and then we are going to head to the safe house.” Jack slipped that watch off Jeremy’s wrist, and sure enough, despite the mottled purple already spreading over his wrist, a gold band was visible. Jack quickly covered it again with a bandage and a couple pieces of  wood which were lying around in the alley. Once that was done the two conscious men lifted and carried Jeremy to the car waiting nearby and drove off. 

 

When Jeremy next opened his eyes he was in a bedroom. His head and the whole right side of his body ached. He groaned and looked around. There was another occupant in the room, on a second bed, seemingly asleep. Even though the figure’s head was turned away from him, Jeremy recognized Gavin’s form. Jeremy looked at the arm lying on top of the blankets. Seeing the scrapes and cuts brought back the memories of how he got here. Fell off the bike. Must have hit his head and passed out because he can barely remember what had happened before the crash, and after it was completely blank. 

Jeremy gazed at the damage on Gavin’s skin. There was some pretty awful bruising around his elbow and he stared at it, confused. There was purple there, but it was so even in colour, an odd colour for a bruise, and in lines exactly parallel with each other. Parallel with Dan’s mark slightly below it. Jeremy’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion just as the Brit turned his head to face him.

“Lil J!” He said with a smile. “You’re awake! How do you feel? Do you remember what happened?”

“My head is killing me.”

“Yeah, you hit it pretty hard. Good thing you’ve got a nice thick skull.”

Jeremy frowned. “That was mean Gav. Be nice to me, I’m injured!”

“We’re both injured Lil J. And we both have thick skulls. Idiots the two of us.”

“What are you talking about Gav?”

“How long have you been covering the mark on your wrist?”

“Uhhh I don’t know what you’re talking about there buddy.”

Gavin grinned but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Because I’ve been covering mine for about a year now. Ever since you started running jobs with us. Before you even joined B-team.” He pointed at the odd bruise on his arm.

“What’s on your arm there Gavin?”

“Same thing that is on yours, you mong! That is what I am trying to tell you! You’ve been trying to keep it a secret from me, and I was doing the same thing! As I said, idiots!” Gavin had leaped out of his bed and was pointing a finger at Jeremy accusingly. “So now that we both know we love each other enough for it to show up on our skin, what are we going to do about it?

Jeremy just looked up at him bewildered. “You mean, that is mine?” He said pointing at the mark on Gavin’s forearm.

“Yes. So can I kiss you now or what?”

Jeremy reached up  with his good arm and Gavin practically dropped onto the bed. Jeremy wrapped his arm around Gavin and pulled him close enough to press his lips against the other’s. The kiss was passionate but it soon turned to sweet and lazy pecks and Jeremy started to drift off again. Gavin lay down beside him with his injured arm up and his head on Jeremy’s bicep. The two drifted off to sleep. 

  
Only to be woken up with the sound of a phone camera. They looked up startled to see Michael at the end of the bed. “Aww look at the two of you! I just love a happy ending!”


	2. Bonus: A little bit of Gavin's side

 

Gavin was in his bathroom putting concealer on his arm. For months now he has been covering up an obnoxious purple band just below his elbow that appeared ever since his crew had started working with the man they had first known as Rimmy Tim. The Boston man had an easy-going charm and cheerful demeanor that had Gavin hooked right away and his affection had only grown as Jeremy joined with the crew full time. The mark itself wasn’t obnoxious (even though it was a vibrant purple colour), it was the fact that Jeremy’s arms (his strong muscely arms) remained obviously bare despite all of Gavin’s attempts to charm the newcomer. This wasn’t the first time Gavin had experienced unrequited love, quite the opposite, he was much less experienced with _requited_ love. He had a problem falling for straight guys and he was used to making sure they never knew. At best they would react like Dan, being polite and staying friends, Gavin’s blue mark was from Dan, and his former partner in crime never judged him or treated him any differently. Most people didn’t react like that, he was either faced with pity or disgust. And Gavin couldn’t face either of those things from Jeremy. So he covered the tattoo until it faded like the others. He hoped it would be soon, but Jeremy was something special and Gavin doubted he would get over him, or that he wanted to.

The heat was intense that day, so Gavin was planning on meeting up with Michael after work to hang out at his pool. He grabbed his sunglasses and walked out the door.

 

“What do you mean you aren’t coming in!” Michael demanded as Gavin sat by the edge.

“My legs are in! Isn’t that enough?”

“Afraid to get your hair wet or something?” Michael teased. Gavin blushed, knowing that it wasn’t his hair, but the makeup on his arm he was worried about.

“Micoo, don’t be mean Micoo! I’ll come in in a minute.”

“Sure you are!” Was the reply and the next thing Gavin knew he was being pulled underwater. He came up spluttering.

“What was that for!”

“Dude it is literally boiling out, you know you wanted in anyway.” And so Gavin splashed the Jersey boy, commencing a splash war between the two friends. Eventually they ran out of breath and climbed out of the pool for their drinks.

“Ouch, how did you get that?” Michael asked.

“Get what?”

“The bruise! It looks nasty!” He pointed at Gavin’s arm where a bit of purple was peeking out from where the concealer had washed away.

“Oh you know, walked into something or other” Gavin replied, glad to pass of the mark as an injury.

“Huh. Normally you’d be whining like a little bitch about something like that.” He tried reaching out but Gavin jerked away. “Wait, wait boi. Is that what I think it is! Holy shit who is the lucky guy?” Michael teased, bursting out in laughter.

“It is nobody Micoo!! Just-just pretend you didn’t see it!”

“Aww Gavvy wavvy! Not another one! We really need to take you out to a gay bar.”

“No Micoo, I don’t want to meet some rando in a bar. You know I am bad with new people.”

“Ok. So are you really not going to tell me who it is?”

“No.”

“So I must know them right!”

“Micoo!”

“I’m right aren’t I!”

“Micoo please!”

“Hahaha! Ok dude. I’ll leave you and your monster truck sized crush alone!”

“You’re horrible! You can’t tell anyone! He can’t know!”

“Alright, your secret is safe with me.”

**Author's Note:**

> So school is almost done and I finally have time to post this! Writting is hard, this definitely wasn't as good as what I thought in my head! Also that "play Monopoly with stolen money" thing really happened in 1968, and it is so FAHC Geoff that I had to put it in.


End file.
